NECEES Mechanical PE Reference Manual Released

[Tiger15]

Asking questions outside of the reference manual WAS only valid for the April 2019 and October 2019 exams as shown below; 

Using the Handbook for the April and October 2019 Paper Exams
The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Mechanical exam is an open-book pencil-and-paper exam through October
2019. The PE Mechanical Reference Handbook is a reference you may use on exam day. It contains charts, formulas, tables, and
other information that may help you answer questions on the PE Mechanical exam. However, it does not contain all information
required to answer every question; theories, conversions, formulas, and definitions that examinees are expected to know have
not been included.
This PE Mechanical Reference Handbook is intended solely for use on the NCEES PE Mechanical exam. You may bring your
personal copy of the Handbook into the exam room as long as it is bound and remains bound according to the policies in the
NCEES Examinee Guide. Additional references that adhere to policies in the Examinee Guide are allowed in the exam room for
the April and October 2019 exam.

If you read it that is the case only for the April and October 2019 Paper exams.

For the computer based exam it says the following; 

Using the Handbook for the April 2020 Computer-Based Exam
Beginning in April 2020, the PE Mechanical exam will be computer-based, and the PE Mechanical Reference Handbook will
be the only resource material you may use during the exam. Reviewing it before exam day will help you become familiar with
reference information provided. You will not be allowed to bring a copy of the Handbook into the exam room. Instead, the
computer-based exam will include a PDF version of the Handbook for your use. The PE Mechanical Reference Handbook is
intended solely for use on the NCEES PE Mechanical exam.

That says that the Mechanical Reference Handbook is the only reference you're allowed to use and will be provided electronically, but I don't read anything that says that everything you need to know is contained in it. I'm sure NCEES can ask whatever they want including questions that may be outside the scope of the provided reference.

 

[cjcarter]

That says that the Mechanical Reference Handbook is the only reference you're allowed to use and will be provided electronically, but I don't read anything that says that everything you need to know is contained in it. I'm sure NCEES can ask whatever they want including questions that may be outside the scope of the provided reference.

Then what is the purpose of the given reference manual versus bringing your own material? They can still do computer based exams and let you bring your own material. It doesn't make sense to me. 

 

[Tiger15]

Then what is the purpose of the given reference manual versus bringing your own material? They can still do computer based exams and let you bring your own material. It doesn't make sense to me. 

That is a good question. My guess, easier administration. They can allow any CBT center to administer the test with little-to-no special training.

If you allow people to bring their own materials then you need proctors to know what is and isn't allowed (e.g. it needs to be bound; staples don't count; are handwritten references ok; pencil or pen; etc). Also you have to worry about testers writing down problems, so proctors have to be constantly paying attention.

With only the electronic reference allowed, it doesn't matter what you do while you're testing as long as you enter and exit empty handed.

 

[cjcarter]

That is a good question. My guess, easier administration. They can allow any CBT center to administer the test with little-to-no special training.

If you allow people to bring their own materials then you need proctors to know what is and isn't allowed (e.g. it needs to be bound; staples don't count; are handwritten references ok; pencil or pen; etc). Also you have to worry about testers writing down problems, so proctors have to be constantly paying attention.

With only the electronic reference allowed, it doesn't matter what you do while you're testing as long as you enter and exit empty handed.

I refuse to believe NCEES can ask questions which requires equations or conversions outside of the reference manual to be solved. Some questions may not need equations but common knowledge on the subject but numerical questions should be covered by the equations shown in the reference manual. Maybe ChemE and other disciplines taking the CBT exam can shed a light over this. 

 

[TX_PE_Oct19]

There are some questions in the exam just to take your time and stress you out. Those questions designed to test your ability to pass, don't be stress, using your time efficiently, etc. So, IF they ask something out of the reference manual (probably a few) you need to identify it, pass it, If you have extra time at the end of the exam you may use your engineering judgment to solve/guess it to some extent.

So, yes I still believe that they can (and probably will) ask some questions off-scope of the provided reference manual. I may be wrong but this is how I interpret these type of exams, not only the PE.

 

[Tiger15]

I refuse to believe NCEES can ask questions which requires equations or conversions outside of the reference manual to be solved. Some questions may not need equations but common knowledge on the subject but numerical questions should be covered by the equations shown in the reference manual. Maybe ChemE and other disciplines taking the CBT exam can shed a light over this. 

Maybe you're right. I can't say that I know. I'd be curious to hear from some ChemE's also.

But IMO ... the thinking that "Every equation is in the book; I just need to find it and use it." sounds like a very FE thought process. The PE exam is testing you, your years of experience and your engineering knowledge. You have to know your ****. There are definitely problems that I'd describe as, "If you're going to call yourself a PE then you should know this, with or without a reference."
There's some stuff that a PE needs to know. There's other stuff that no one would be expected to remember.

Also keep in mind how the cut score is determined. The question that NCEES asks is "what percentage of competent PEs should be able to answer this question?" and then questions are weighted based on that (subjective) percentage. No one is expected to know everything. You don't have to score 100%. The expectation of how many people could answer is built into the scoring.

 

[cjcarter]

Maybe you're right. I can't say that I know. I'd be curious to hear from some ChemE's also.

But IMO ... the thinking that "Every equation is in the book; I just need to find it and use it." sounds like a very FE thought process. The PE exam is testing you, your years of experience and your engineering knowledge. You have to know your ****. There are definitely problems that I'd describe as, "If you're going to call yourself a PE then you should know this, with or without a reference."
There's some stuff that a PE needs to know. There's other stuff that no one would be expected to remember.

Also keep in mind how the cut score is determined. The question that NCEES asks is "what percentage of competent PEs should be able to answer this question?" and then questions are weighted based on that (subjective) percentage. No one is expected to know everything. You don't have to score 100%. The expectation of how many people could answer is built into the scoring.

I wish that was the case but the PE exam is far away from needing the industry experience or testing your knowledge over it. For example most of the engineers that I worked with took it right after their FE exam without any experience. They took it when they were graduating. State of IL allows that. The questions are mostly basic questions but need to know what equation to use quickly and where to find them. It gets tricky when NCEES decides to change the exam formatting or doesn't stick with their own exam specifications. If the goal is to make it harder for the test takers, might as well also limit the licenses to people with MS, MENG or PHD degrees. 

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

I wish that was the case but the PE exam is far away from needing the industry experience or testing your knowledge over it. For example most of the engineers that I worked with took it right after their FE exam without any experience. They took it when they were graduating. State of IL allows that. The questions are mostly basic questions but need to know what equation to use quickly and where to find them. It gets tricky when NCEES decides to change the exam formatting or doesn't stick with their own exam specifications. If the goal is to make it harder for the test takers, might as well also limit the licenses to people with MS, MENG or PHD degrees. 

There are some who advocate for this and may not be an entirely bad idea.

 

[OldSquaw]

Has anyone noticed that table 1.2.1 Properties of Air at Atmospheric Pressure, the columns for Kinematic and Absolute Viscosity seem off? Nothing seems to match what I am getting using NIST Refprop. 

From what I can tell, it looks like the table says "centistokes" for kinematic viscosity but it should say "ft^2/sec" if the numbers are to be correct in the table. As for the absolute viscosity, they said "centipoise" but the numbers are for lbf-sec/ft^2.

 

[Dr. Barber]

Has anyone noticed that table 1.2.1 Properties of Air at Atmospheric Pressure, the columns for Kinematic and Absolute Viscosity seem off? Nothing seems to match what I am getting using NIST Refprop. 

From what I can tell, it looks like the table says "centistokes" for kinematic viscosity but it should say "ft^2/sec" if the numbers are to be correct in the table. As for the absolute viscosity, they said "centipoise" but the numbers are for lbf-sec/ft^2.

Agree with you 100%,
I will be adding this to my long list of errata and email them about it.

 

[OldSquaw]

Agree with you 100%,
I will be adding this to my long list of errata and email them about it.

Thanks for your help Dr. Barber. I'll post here as I continue to find errors in this manual.

 

[OldSquaw]

Has anyone else tried to solve problems using the psychrometric chart in the reference manual? I tried using only the chart in the PDF, since that's all I will have on exam day. It's almost impossible to use, especially if you have to use the sensible heat ratio. Hopefully they will present the questions in a way that the PDF can actually be used. I just can't seem to use this chart without drawing on it and using a straight edge.

 

[Dr. Barber]

Has anyone else tried to solve problems using the psychrometric chart in the reference manual? I tried using only the chart in the PDF, since that's all I will have on exam day. It's almost impossible to use, especially if you have to use the sensible heat ratio. Hopefully they will present the questions in a way that the PDF can actually be used. I just can't seem to use this chart without drawing on it and using a straight edge.

It’s a complete train wreck. You have to zoom in to get decent resolution of the lines, but when you do so, the humidity and dry bulb axes are off-screen. Like wtf?

It would be ridiculous if a question requires using the SHR protractor. I guess you’d have to use the miniature white board as a ruler.

 

[OldSquaw]

Table 6.2 on page 284, Flow Rate of Steam in Sch. 40 Pipe does not have any units for the flow. I know it's lb/hr, but it doesn't say that anywhere.

 

[OldSquaw]

Pages 381,382,383,385,386,387,389,390,391,393,394,395,397,398,399,401,402,403 Property charts for R22, R123, R134a, R410a, R717, R1234yf all have Enthalpy in units of Btu/lb-F. This is a typo and should read Btu/lb.

 

[OldSquaw]

Also just in case anyone was curious, I have been studying for the exam using the online "learning hub" through PPI. It's an online database of practice problems, quizzes, and books. I have also found several errors in these practice problems. Most of the errors are in the solutions to the problems. I haven't been using this resource very long either. It is extremely frustrating to study for the exam using a reference manual and practice problems that are both filled with errors. I'm really starting to think this whole new format is a complete joke.

 

[Tiger15]

Also just in case anyone was curious, I have been studying for the exam using the online "learning hub" through PPI. It's an online database of practice problems, quizzes, and books. I have also found several errors in these practice problems. Most of the errors are in the solutions to the problems. I haven't been using this resource very long either. It is extremely frustrating to study for the exam using a reference manual and practice problems that are both filled with errors. I'm really starting to think this whole new format is a complete joke.

To be fair, there are lots of errors in the MERM and in the old NCEES practice exam. ... and in every other thing every published. But they have been around a long time so (1) many errors have been corrected during multiple revisions, and (2) erratas are readily available. Eventually these newer resources will catch up. But I feel what you're saying, it kinda sucks to be the gen1 guinea pig.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Also just in case anyone was curious, I have been studying for the exam using the online "learning hub" through PPI. It's an online database of practice problems, quizzes, and books. I have also found several errors in these practice problems. Most of the errors are in the solutions to the problems. I haven't been using this resource very long either. It is extremely frustrating to study for the exam using a reference manual and practice problems that are both filled with errors. I'm really starting to think this whole new format is a complete joke.

Look at it this way. If you're able to discern why the problem solution is wrong, you're probably going to do OK on the exam.

 

[Dr. Barber]

The unit conversion table in page 2 erroneously has the viscosity unit "reyn" as equal to 1 lb-ft/s^2 where it should be 1 lbf-s/in^2. 

 

[Dr. Barber]

Ok, I welcome any clarification and pointing out what I'm doing wrong here. If I'm not making any dumb mistakes, then this is further proof that this handbook is an unmitigated disaster.

Consider this simple question: What is the dynamic viscosity of SAE 50 oil at 50C?

If we use the graph in page 10, we get... what do we get? I have no idea. is this 4.5? 45? 450?

Note there is a 10^2 below the horizontal red line and another 10^2 above the red line. At first I thought the 10^2 below was a typo and should be just 10, but there is already a 10 further below. So, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Then I thought I could use the imperial units graph of page 9. Going in there at 122F (50C) I get 16 reyn, which is 1.1x10^8 mPa*s which is nowhere near anything close you could get from the SI chart.  So, yeah, unless I'm doing something really wrong, this is REALLY screwed up.